In a story I saw on the front page of abcnews.com, the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) (and their retro web site) is demanding that 2.2 million 1993-2004 Grand Cherokees be recalled to fix a faulty fuel tank.

As reported by ABC News, Chrysler quickly responded saying that the test as done by CAS is "three times as severe" as government standards.

"For the Center for Auto Safety, this is the most dangerous vehicle on the road today and we want it recalled," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the advocacy organization.

The Center says that at least 55 people have died in crashes where fire was "the most harmful factor."

This week the center turned over to the government new crash test results that it says show gas tests failings in rear-end impacts. Ditlow said the problem is that the fuel tank is located behind the rear axle.

"You can have the tank itself rupture, you can have the filler hoses pull off as they did in some of our crash tests, and it's just a terrible design," Ditlow told ABC News.

There was a time when CAS still had relevance and pressed automakers on real issues. Now, though, they just seem increasingly nutty and arbitrary. Don't know why ABC News still listens to them, though maybe it's because the reporters don't know anything about any subjects so any "expert" with a story that will boost ratings gets a hearing.

Technically it was IIHS and not CR. And it was the WK generation GC that they rated as the study was for vehicles from 2005 onward. And the big takeaway on that study was that electronic stability control has made SUV's far less prone to rollovers.